The medical implant industry spans a variety of disciplines, drawing from the biological sciences for materials that are compatible with living organisms, from the metallurgical sciences for materials that can withstand the stresses encountered in biological functions without excessive deterioration, from the machine tool sciences for the fabrication techniques necessary to make the devices from the selected materials for the specific application. Accordingly, the art includes miniature fixtures and threaded members as well as devices designed to replace or assist the larger bones of the body. In each of these cases a continual concern is intermodular connectivity which is critical to acceptance of the biological implant as a viable alternative for more than the most extreme cases. That is to say, a patient with no options but for the use of a medical implant may be willing to suffer secondary surgical procedures when the implant components loosen from one another; however, the pain, expense, and inconvenience of such repeated surgical procedures reduces the acceptance of the procedures among many who would potentially benefit therefrom.
Accordingly a persistent need exists for implant technology which provides the assurance of tight seals between components and which can be manipulated with relative ease and minimal trauma to the patient to effect repair or maintenance.